Craftsman Truck Series: Heim wins bizarre season opener after Klingerman fails post-race inspection
By Don Coble
DAYTONA
BEACH – To better understand just how wild the final few laps Friday night’s Florida
Fresh 250 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race was, imagine this:
•
Parker Klingerman went to Victory Lane, and although he was so busy “just making moves”
in the final few laps, he didn’t know his surge to the lead came on the final
lap to what he thought was a victory.
•
Grant Enfinger went from 14th to first to 12th to fifth
in the final five laps.
•
And former television actor from “Malcolm in the Middle,” Frankie Muniz, found a
way to rally from running outside the top 20 to an 11th-place finish
in the last three laps in his truck series debut.
•
Then it really got crazy. An hour after the race, NASCAR disqualified
Klingerman’s
truck failed post-race inspection for being too low in the rear, which promoted
Corey Heim to the win.
Klingerman,
who will go back to his day job as a reporter with CW’s coverage of the United
Rentals 300 for the Xfinity Series at 5 p.m., drove a Chevrolet prepared by
Henderson Motorsports after he worked his way against the outside wall along
the backstretch on the final lap. At the same time, Tanner Gray muscled his Toyota between
Klingerman’s truck and the Ford of Ben Rhodes going into the third turn.
Rhodes
suddenly moved up and into Gray, who veered right into the Ford of Johnny
Sauter.
Other
trucks spun, trying to avoid the melee, allowing Klingerman to scoot
away unchallenged to the apparent victory.
“I’m
out of breath. I can’t believe it. I was just making moves,” Klingerman said. “Every
move I made felt like it worked. For some reason, it really did.”
Once
the crash started, NASCAR displayed the caution flag, which froze the field –
and the final running order. To make sure, Klingerman kept his truck ahead of Heim
in the final mile until they crossed the finish line.
“Nothing
short of crazy there the last 20 laps,” Heim said. “Honestly, pretty impressed
with everyone that we kept it straight for as long as we did. They piled it up
a little bit on the last lap. (It) definitely was out of control there at the
end, being three-wide middle and old tires, being free.”
The
disqualification surprised everyone, especially since it came after
most of the confetti had been swept from Victory Lane. Heim said it was the
first time he’s been the beneficiary of a disqualification.
“It’s
cool, especially at Daytona,” he said. “Once again, it would just have been cooler if I crossed the line first and whatnot, but we’ll take them anyway we can get
them. It doesn’t feel like it’s my biggest win, but it’s a great
way to start the season.”
Gio
Ruggiero wound up second, followed by Ty Mayeski in third, Enfinger in fourth,
Justin Haley in fifth, Chandler Smith in sixth, Daniel Hemric in seventh, Jason White
in eighth, William Sawalich in ninth and Muniz in 10th. Ruggiero, Sawalich and
Muniz are rookies.
ON
TAP SATURDAY: The Xfinity, ARCA Menard and NASCAR Cup Series cars will be on
track on Saturday.
It
will start with Xfinity Series pole qualifying at 10:05 a.m., while the ARCA race
will take the green flag with William Sawalich on the pole at noon. The race
includes Thad Moffitt, Richard Petty’s grandson, rolling off from seventh, and
four-time Indianapolis 500 champion Helio Castroneves starting 19th.
Castroneves, granted a special provisional exemption for the Daytona
500, will use the ARCA race to gain stock car experience for Sunday’s
race.
The
Cup Series cars will have 50 minutes, starting at 3:05 p.m., for a final
tune-up ahead of Sunday’s Daytona 500, while the United Rentals 300 for the
Xfinity Series will begin at 5 p.m.
